History Part 2

After
the success of their appearance on the cruise ship they packed their
bags and set off for South America, via Italy where they were to pick
up another cruise ship to cross the Atlantic. After a few weeks of work
in Italy, they discovered that their croupier manager (one had dropped
out of the picture) was not quite what he said he was and they were forced
to stay in Italy and find a new manager to provide them with an income
and enough money to return to the UK and safety. During one of their
appearances at a restaurant in Forte dei Marmi, La Cappannina de Francesci,
an RCA A & R executive, who just happened to be on holiday there,
invited them to Rome for a recording test.

The
band caused such excitement with their vocal sound that producers in
Rome were tripping over themselves to use them to record film soundtracks,
back existing Italian singers and record other original material, in
Italian, as Middle of the Road. It is possible that
their less than exorbitant recording session fees had something to do
with this as well.

One
of the first of these was a recording with an unknown Italian singer
called Jordan. The song was an entry to the San Remo
Song Festival in 1971 and the group had to perform it with Jordan live
on TV, broadcast from the Casino theatre. The main part of the song began
with everybody screaming "Aaaagh" at which point the four Scots
would jump forward on stage almost knocking poor old Jordan into the
wings. He had to recover quickly since the next line was his alone. The
performance was noted for its amusement but the song didn't win. The
competition was pretty hot with artistes like José Feliciano and
a host of top Italian groups and singers taking part.

Another
of those recording artistes backed vocally by Middle of the Road was
none other than screen icon Sophia Loren and a fairly
successful single entitled "Anyone" backed by "There is
a Star" was released as a spin off for the film "The Priest's
Wife" (1971).

The
publicity from this unexpected collaboration hit the world entertainment
headlines, (except the UK) and Middle of the Road were
established as a marketable product for RCA Italiana. Today these songs
may be heard on recently released CDs in Europe.

It
was at this time that they were teamed up with a bright, up and coming
Italian producer, Giacomo Tosti. Then began the search
for suitable material to launch RCA Italiana's latest signing. Lally
Stott, one of the many Brits working in Rome's lively music recording
scene, approached RCA with a song he had written and recorded himself.
His record label, Philips, had already had a hit with his version of
the song in Italy but they were reluctant to release it anywhere else.
Giacomo heard it and immediately volunteered to produce a new version
featuring his new Scottish band. When Ken, Ian and Eric heard it they
fell about laughing.

They
reckoned that if anyone in the UK or any English speaking territory heard
this, Middle of the Road would never be able to hold
their heads up in public ever again. Sally, however, thought it was really
catchy and finally the boys agreed to do it on condition that the recording
session was supported with a supply of Bourbon to keep the spirits up.

The session was not without its problems and the Bourbon came in handy
but finally the song was ready. In the photo, Lally Stott is behind the
mic stand next to Ken, the source of one of the problems.

By
a strange coincidence RCA executives from all over the world were visiting
the studios for a company convention and they were invited to the studio
to hear the finished product. They all gave it the thumbs up and master
copies were sent to all territories for release there. "Chirpy Chirpy
Cheep Cheep" was set loose on the unsuspecting world.

It
was now obvious that more material was needed to follow up this first
single and writers and arrangers Mario and Giosy Capuano joined the production
team.

They shared many long and tiresome recording sessions in the enormous
Studio One of the RCA complex in Rome. Often they would be leaving the
studios to go home when the morning shift of engineers was coming in
to begin their day. The combination of their production team, jointly
known as Catoca, and the Scottish quartet was to prove to be a spectacular
formula for success.

"Chirpy" was
a runaway success but for the follow up single, "Tweedle Dee Tweedle
Dum" needed some innovative promotion. What better than to put a
new car on the road with "Middle of the Road". As it happens,
Fiat were launching their mini hatchback, the Fiat 127, and they were
producing a short film for release in cinemas all over Europe. RCA struck
a deal with them to feature "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum" and the
band in the film. The foursome, who were still living in Rome, had the
dubious pleasure of seeing themselves on the big screen, quite by accident,
when they visited their local cinema one evening to see "Love Story".

They have never been able to work out what "Tweedle Dee" had
to do with a car but in spite of this both car and song were highly successful.

After "Chirpy" and "Tweedle
Dee Tweedle Dum" had hit the charts, their third single broke the
mould of nonsense songs and was a resounding hit. Written by a Spanish
songwriter, Fernando Arbex, with lyrics co-written by Sally herself and
produced by Giacomo Tosti just before Catoca was formed, "Soley
Soley", recorded in Madrid, became the summer hit for Europe that
year. With astonishingly 'good' planning, RCA released the single in
Britain... for Christmas! It wasn't until March that "Soley" reached
the number two spot in the UK charts when the weather was beginning to
reflect the mood of the song.

"Soley
Soley" was deprived of a UK number one spot by a traditional song
recorded by the pipes and military band of a Scottish regiment. The regiment
was the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the song was "Amazing
Grace". As a mark of respect, or perhaps it was to concede defeat,
Ian, Middle of the Road's guitarist and piper, performed a rendition
of the military hit on his pipes, backed by the brass like voices of
Sally, Ken and Eric, to open the group's act at live concerts.

"Chirpy
Chirpy Cheep Cheep", "Tweedle Dee Tweedle Dum", "Soley
Soley", "Sacramento" and "Samson and Delilah" were
the group's main hits in the UK, but world-wide they had numerous more.
The record market, however, was suffering from the oil crisis and vinyl
was in short supply putting pressure on the release of new material.
The UK record label apparently turned its back on "the foursome
from Italy", the band's perceived country of origin. As a result,
the UK public were given no further opportunity to follow the Scots group
in spite of numerous appearances on Top of the Pops for BBC Television.

Not so in the rest of the world. RCA Italiana were not going to allow
any oil crisis to affect the popularity of their first and biggest international
product and there followed a succession of releases that had the band
travelling non stop round the world for the next two years. Brazil, Malaysia,
Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Europe were
treated to more "Middle of The Road" fun with singles like "Yellow
Boomerang", "Kailakee Kailako", "Talk of all the
USA" and many more.

It
was about this time they were joined by an escapee from another soon
to be famous group, the Bay City Rollers. Neil
Henderson, one of the original members of the Scottish 'Teenie Bopper
Supergroup', decided he had to body swerve the 'tartan terrors' flamboyant
outfits and settle in to the more 'sophisticated' image of the chirpy
foursome from Glasgow and the final line up for Middle of the
Road was established.

In
the mid seventies, the successful collaboration between Catoca and Middle
of the Road ended and each went their own way.

In the best traditions of the music business it wasn't until it was
too late that they each realised the stupidity of this move. The magic
formula had been discarded and a new era was about to begin.